[Imc] PBS

Mon Oct 29 21:54:49 UTC 2001

Here's a recent editorial from PBS's (Public Broadcasting Service) new CEO,
Pat Mitchell.  I was impressed by her when I met her in July.   Here's what
she thinks about the state of freedom of the press, news and entertainment
programming, and commercialism in the US.

Kimberlie

By Pat Mitchell
Tuesday, October 16, 2001; Page A23 
Washington Post

Three days after an unfathomable hate unleashed unprecedented acts of terror
in New York and Washington, public television received phone calls from the
offices of Vice President Dick Cheney and the queen of England requesting
copies of two programs broadcast on PBS. One, Frontline's "Hunting bin
Laden," was a profile of Osama bin Laden, his followers and his role in
global terrorism. The second, "Islam: Empire of Faith," a three-hour history
of the culture, religion, leaders and thinkers responsible for the Muslim
faith (produced by filmmaker Rob Gardner), had originally been broadcast
months before, but PBS repeated it in light of its timely and important
perspective.

We'd like to flatter ourselves into thinking that these videos were the best
ones available to provide perspective on this chilling time in our nation's
history. The truth is they were among a very few, if any programs that
offered insights on a culture we had immediate need to understand. Why? In
part, because in the past decade, television programs about international
events and issues have been increasingly elbowed out by entertainment and
celebrity news, quiz shows and reality programs. So most broadcast networks
-- in otherwise stellar performances -- had to retreat to file footage to
cover stories on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 72 hours immediately
following the attacks.

In the weeks since, the pendulum between news and entertainment on nearly
every channel has begun to swing back, and viewers are growing accustomed to
something they haven't seen regularly since the late 1970s: extensive, live
coverage of foreign news and in-depth reporting and documentaries on global
issues. It's a welcome change. But the question is, how long are we going to
stay here? I hope it's a permanent change.

Just as the line between entertainment and news has been blurred, the past
month has proven that there is no longer a clear dividing line between
international and domestic issues. In this increasingly interdependent
world, our fate as a nation will depend to a larger extent than ever before
on our interaction with the rest of the world. We will not succeed without
citizens who care about, know about and understand what is going on beyond
our borders. That's where the media have a role to play, a big role.

The media have to share the blame for the fact that most Americans didn't
know much about the Taliban prior to Sept. 11. Over more than a decade,
foreign news has slowly vanished from the American media landscape. A 1997
Harvard study found that in the 1970s, television networks devoted 45
percent of their newscasts to foreign affairs, but by 1995 just 13.5
percent. According to a more recent Tyndall report, foreign bureaus provided
only a third as many minutes of coverage for the evening newscasts on the
major networks in 2000 as they did in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell.

This drop hasn't occurred in a vacuum. According to independent studies,
international coverage by weekly newsmagazines has gone from 22 percent in
1985 to less than 13 percent today. Similar surveys have found that space
given to foreign news among our nation's newspapers has fallen from 10
percent to less than 2 percent over the past 30 years.

There are reasons -- business reasons -- why this occurred. In this age of
media mergers and competition-induced cost-cutting, global news doesn't pay.
After the Gulf War of 1991, Americans increasingly turned their attention to
the deepening recession at home -- and our politics and cameras shifted
along with it. It created a vicious cycle and we never went back. Since
then, network reporting on foreign stories has routinely brought smaller
audiences and lower ratings.

News magazines that have led with foreign stories on their covers have seen
newsstand sales drop by 25 percent. That kind of apathy made it hard to
justify staffing foreign bureaus, many of which can cost upward of a million
dollars a year per bureau to operate. As a result, the year 2000 saw three
times as many stories written about "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as about
bin Laden.

Today, with so much harsh reality to comprehend, "survivor" has an
altogether different meaning, and it is more critical than ever that
television no longer be the weakest link in the chain of social
responsibility. We in the media are in a unique position to help our nation
shape a new balance between freedom and security, between knowledge and
response. That means finding a new balance between profits and public
service, between what is entertaining and what is newsworthy.

As our enemies have learned all too well the past month, there is nothing
like freedom of speech and freedom of the press to promote unity and
tolerance during times of crisis. If we get our role right and this balance
permanently in place, we will be exercising the most positive impact of the
licenses we hold to contribute to a future free of fear and intolerance.

The writer is president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service. 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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-----Original Message-----
From: imc-request at urbana.indymedia.org
[mailto:imc-request at urbana.indymedia.org]
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 6:29 AM
To: imc at urbana.indymedia.org
Subject: IMC digest, Vol 1 #393 - 6 msgs

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Today's Topics:

   1. headlines on anti-war talks (Pauline Bartolone)
   2. teach-in on the war (Laura Haber)
   3. (no subject) (Gotsch Tim)
   4. Updating the Spokes List (Michael Feltes)
   5. SOA TEACH IN II **PLEASE FORWARD** (fwd) (Demian Kogan)
   6. upcoming events with performance artist (Sharon Irish)

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Message: 1
From: "Pauline Bartolone" <alice_redqueen at hotmail.com>
To: imc at lists.groogroo.com
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 19:44:49 
Subject: [Imc] headlines on anti-war talks

Did anyone go to any peace talks in the past two weeks that they would like 
to write a 200 word headline about?

Specifically on:

The united Nations meeting on WEdnesday 24th
War on Terrorism talk  Tuesday 23rd
Mc Chesney talk at Friday forum last friday

Any PSAs on Peace talks this week?

PLease send them to me or Eric Hultner ( akaphrates at hotmail.com)

by tomorrow at 2:30 pm.

Thanks! Pauline

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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 19:11:50 -0800 (PST)
From: Laura Haber <comradelaura at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: l-haber at uiuc.edu
To: imc at lists.groogroo.com
Subject: [Imc] teach-in on the war

please forward widely:

Freedom to Question: A Teach-In About the US War on Afghanistan and Beyond

When: Saturday, November 3, 10:00am - 4:30pm
Where: McKinley Foundation, Fifth and Daniels, Champaign
What: A day-long assortment of speakers, discussions, hands-on workshops and
performances
Who: Anyone who wants to learn about the current political situation and
historical contexts!

Selected topics include: history of the region and US foreign policy, the
media
and the war, civil liberties and the 'war on terrorism', art projects,
conscientous objectors and veteran's issues, racism and the war,
globalization,
and long term solutions.

Childcare provided.

Sponsored by AWARE (Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort) and Student Peace Action 

For more information call 384-7942

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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 19:56:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Gotsch Tim <bowednotbeaten at yahoo.com>
To: Urbana-Champaign Independant Media Center main list
<imc at lists.groogroo.com>
Subject: [Imc] (no subject)

I've run across these two sites in recent days.  Check
them out for some unbelieveable stories of the
harrowing conditions under which journalists sometimes
operate.  Peace.

Tim Gotsch

http://www.cpj.org

http://www.rsf.fr

=====
"What a piece of work is a man and how easily his conscience
betrays him.  He listens to the voice of duty and what he
hears is the license of passion."
--Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"
"Technology and laws need to go hand-in-hand to preserve
privacy and liberty."
--Simson Garfinkel, "Database Nation"

__________________________________________________
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Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com

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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 05:05:39 +0100 (MET)
From: Michael Feltes <mfeltes at gmx.net>
To: imc at urbana.indymedia.org
Subject: [Imc] Updating the Spokes List

I've taken the liberty of updating the spokes list that was hanging on the
bulletin board, but I want to run them through the mailing list because I
don't know the status on some of these.  I've taken what was there as of
March
and added in the changes that I know about; if we could fill in the rest of
the
changes and contact info, that would be just marvelous.  Thanks.

Urbana-Champaign IMC Steering Group Spokespeople
November 2001

Please contact these people if you are interested in participating in or
offering a skill/idea to a working group!

Finance
Sascha Meinrath			384-5346	meinrath at uiuc.edu

Space
Sarah Kanouse			384-5346	skanouse at usa.net
Mike Lehman			

News
Mark Enslin			367-2804	enslin at prairienet.org
Pauline Bartolone				alice_redqueen at hotmail.com

Tech
Zach Miller			344-7464   wolfgang at wolfgang.groogroo.com
Paul Riismandel			278-2774	p-riism at uiuc.edu

Librarians
James Jacobs					jacobs at students.uiuc.edu
Ellen Knutson			278-2774	knuston at shout.net

Outreach
Brian Hagy				384-9305	bhagy at onthejob.net

Print
Aaron Koonsman
Michael Feltes			428-6682	mfeltes at gmx.net

-- 
--

Michael Feltes
mfeltes at gmx.net

"Wealth has never yet sacrificed itself on the altar of patriotism."

Robert La Follette

Sent through GMX FreeMail - http://www.gmx.net

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Message: 5
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 23:25:39 -0600 (CST)
From: Demian Kogan <dakogan at students.uiuc.edu>
To: <prairiegreens at lists.groogroo.com>, <peace at lists.groogroo.com>,
	<imc at lists.groogroo.com>
Subject: [Imc] SOA TEACH IN II **PLEASE FORWARD** (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 23:21:26 -0600
From: UIUC SOAW <uiucsoaw at hotmail.com>
To: amnesty at uiuc.edu
Subject: SOA TEACH IN II **PLEASE FORWARD**

*****************************PLEASE FORWARD*************************

Your tax dollars are being used to train torture tactics throughout Latin
America.

Amnesty International presents:

Close Down the SOA Part II:
An educational forum sponsored by the U of I
Chapter of Amnesty International

An educational event which will emphasize the annual SOA/WHISC protest in
Fort Benning Georgia on November 16th-18th.

8:00
Tuesday October 30th
University YMCA Rooms K1&K2
1001 Wright Street

Featuring guest speaker:
Sascha Meinrath
Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois
SOA Video "Guns & Greed"

************************************************************************

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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 05:17:33 -0600
To: imc at urbana.indymedia.org
From: Sharon Irish <s-irish1 at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: [Imc] upcoming events with performance artist

--=====================_2118994==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Performance Artist Suzanne Lacy will be visiting the UIUC Campus, November 
4-14, 2001, as a George A. Miller Scholar. Please join us for any of the 
activities listed, which are free and open to the public. Her visit is 
sponsored by all of the units listed below. Questions? Contact Sharon 
Irish, s-irish1 at uiuc.edu

Wednesday, November 7
5PM "Reading Community: The Art Work of Suzanne Lacy" MillerComm lecture, 
Krannert Art Museum 62, 500 E. Peabody Drive, C.
Friday, November 9
3-5PM Session with IPRH Reading Group, "The Arts and Humanities in Civic 
Life," Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, 805 W. 
Pennsylvania, U.
Monday, November 12
11:30-1:30 Lunch and informal discussion at Women's Studies, 911 S. Sixth 
St., C.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, unit sponsors:
Art Education Program; Art History Program; Department of Educational 
Psychology; Department of Human and Community Development; Department of 
Landscape Architecture; Department of Psychology; Department of Sociology; 
Department of Theatre; Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Illinois 
Program for Research in the Humanities Reading Groups Initiative; Institute 
of Government and Public Affairs; Krannert Art Museum; Krannert Center for 
the Performing Arts; Lorado Taft Lecture Fund; Office of Women's Programs; 
School of Architecture; School of Art and Design; Women's Studies Program
Support also provided by: Office of the Chancellor/Office of Equal 
Opportunity and Access; Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for 
Academic Affairs; Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; Office of the 
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; The Center for Advanced Study/George 
A. Miller Programs Committee and Peggy Harris Memorial Fund; The Council of 
Deans; The Graduate College
--=====================_2118994==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<html>
Performance Artist Suzanne
Lacy will be visiting the UIUC Campus, November 4-14, 2001, as a
George A. Miller Scholar. Please join us for any of the activities
listed, which are free and open to the public. Her visit is sponsored by
all of the units listed below. Questions? Contact Sharon Irish,
s-irish1 at uiuc.edu 
 
Wednesday, November 7
<dl>
<dd>5PM "Reading Community: The Art Work of Suzanne Lacy" MillerComm
lecture, Krannert Art Museum 62, 500 E. Peabody Drive, C.
</dl>Friday, November 9
<dl>
<dd>3-5PM Session with IPRH Reading Group, "The Arts and Humanities in
Civic Life," Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, 805 W.
Pennsylvania, U.
</dl>Monday, November 12 
11:30-1:30 Lunch and informal discussion at Women's Studies, 911 S.
Sixth St., C. 
 
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, unit sponsors: 
Art Education Program; Art History Program; Department of Educational
Psychology; Department of Human and Community Development; Department of
Landscape Architecture; Department of Psychology; Department of
Sociology; Department of Theatre; Department of Urban and Regional
Planning; Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Reading Groups
Initiative; Institute of Government and Public Affairs; Krannert Art
Museum; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Lorado Taft Lecture
Fund; Office of Women's Programs; School of Architecture; School of Art
and Design; Women's Studies Program 
Support also provided by: Office of the Chancellor/Office of Equal
Opportunity and Access; Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs; Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; Office of
the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; The Center for Advanced
Study/George A. Miller Programs Committee and Peggy Harris Memorial Fund;
The Council of Deans; The Graduate College</html>

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